April 13, 2008

Collaborate 08 Hyperion Track - Sunday

I just got back from the Oracle ACE dinner at Panzano. It's a Northern Italian restaurant, and the vegetarian food was remarkably non-tasty. They had a fixed menu which offered a choice between steak and salmon. I asked for the vegetarian option, and the server brought me spaghetti with red sauce. It wasn't as good as Chef Boyardee. I did have a nice time mingling with the other Oracle ACE attendees at COLLABORATE.

Before I forget (since I forget it earlier), between the OAUG Hyperion SIG reception and the Oracle ACE dinner was an "OAUG Welcome Reception." I heard from someone that it was the fun highlight of the week. To put it politely, if this is the highpoint of the week, then this week is doomed.

Maybe my expectations were too high because I was comparing it to the Solutions opening night receptions? At Solutions, there was always copious food, live music, and an overabundance of alcohol. At this event, the food consisted of cheese, crackers, and grapes. Alcohol was limited to wine that Michael Manes told me costs $2 a bottle retail. The music was not live and barely audible which is actually a blessing in disguise since they were playing, I kid you not, elevator music. A fun time was not had by all.

I have just adjusted my expectations for the remainder of the week very much downward. They're subterranean at the moment.

Now, I'm now sitting here in my hotel room at the Hyatt Regency looking over my presentations for tomorrow. There's a Hyperion presentation at 8AM that I'm hoping to attend on the revised Hyperion roadmap. Assuming I finish reviewing my presentations in the next couple of hours, I should be in bed by 1AM.

Just as I was about to post this entry, I got a call from the irreplaceable Tracy McMullen, interRel Director of Special Projects. Tracy is supposed to deliver 9 presentations this week. Her call was to let me know that due to a delay on American Airlines, she was stranded in Dallas until Monday morning. Right now, she's supposed to land at 7:30AM on Monday. Her first presentation is not until 10AM on Monday, so I'm not going to panic. Yet. I'm not going to panic yet.